07.03.2020 - FEST - Final Performance

WORKSHOP

We did a workshop in the morning with Larisa Faber.  She is a successful actress in Germany and Luxembourg.  We started off with getting our bodies moving with a quick game of Stuck in the Mud.  This was quite a good ice breaker with people we hadn't met before as we had to get quite close to them.  We all worked well as a team.  Then we did some stretches and massaged our legs and feet.  This was very soothing and well-needed.  We then started massaging our faces and stretching them out to make our jaws relaxed.  To help relax our jaw, we put our hands in front of our face and shook them with our mouth open.  We got into pairs and I went with Louis.  We then had to do an exercise where one person was the actor and the other was the director.  We had to each hold the other person's right hand with our right hand.  Then the director would move the person around how they wanted the actor to move.  For example, if the director rolled on the floor, the actor would have to roll too. We had to have a lot of trust in our pairs so we could trust that they wouldn't make us do any movement that would hurt us.  I was quite lucky as Louis and I are friends so we have trust in each other whereas some people paired up with people they didn't know.  Then we switched roles.  Then we started saying our monologues within this activity.  Louis used his fragmented monologue with James and Tristan and I used my monologue after the mirrored chair duet.  When the director would move a certain way, the actor had to try respond with their voices as well as their bodies.  For example, if I pulled Louis closer to me, he would whisper because I would be right next to him and he wouldn't need to be so loud.  Then we did the same activity without holding each other's arm.  If the director ran back super fast, the actor would have to run after them attempting to keep the same distance between them.  This was obviously a bit harder to react to as it wasn't as authentic, but when doing a piece of theatre, it won't be authentic like it's happening in real time, but we, as actors will have to portray it like it is authentic.  Larisa was very accepting of everything we did and praised moments when we felt uncomfortable or shy because we could learn off of them.  After that, we discussed what our objective was for our monologue.  It was a bit more difficult for the characters doing direct audience address, but we soon figured out an objective for why everyone was saying what they were saying.  My reason was to try get the audience to sympathise with my character.  With this new objective in mind, Larisa went round all of us and made us try and get our partner to stay interested on what we were saying and not loose interest.  Larisa wanted us to experiment entirely with absolutely everything, even if we didn't plan on using it in our piece.  There were points where we were shouting, singing, dancing and jumping around.  It was a lot of fun and gave us an entirely new perspective on things which were hilarious.

WARM UP

Once we finished the workshop, we went to go have a little break and eat.  Then we started to do our makeup and get into costume.  We then went upstairs to have a small warm up.  First we played Zip, Zap, Boing to make ourselves more energetic.  After that, we stretched our muscles and then did a speed run through.  This was to see if we knew all of our cues and it was so much fun.  Everyone was saying their lines but in double speed so it was super funny to see us all running around. 

PERFORMANCE

The performance went really considering we were all feeling very nervous.  I think the nerves properly kicked in when we were backstage and we could hear the audience coming in.  Once the music was on I think we all just got our head's in the game and went for it.  I'm glad that we had a physical theatre movement at the start as it was a comforting way to begin the play.  We were all very smooth and made sure we had eye contact so a relationship was shown through the characters.  I like that we all really committed and even though we should have thought of it earlier, we added in a few lines when we thought it would make more sense.  For example, I added that Tristan lied to me too so the audience wouldn't get confused that I'm not a bad person after all.  Although I'm very happy with the outcome, a few things could have gone better.  For example, I messed up one of my lines in the fragmented monologue between Amelie and I.  Luckily, she noticed and picked it up quite quickly.  Another thing that went wrong is that the sound cue was slightly off for our mirrored chair duet.  What made it even harder to fix was that Amelie and I had the first move but couldn't see the other person.  Luckily, Tristan and Louis could see what was going on so they made sure that we timed it perfectly.  When I was doing my scene with Tristan, I spilt the "gin" all down my arm and face.  I tried to carry on and just roll with it.  The final thing that didn't go to plan was that because the staging blocks were too far forward, I tripped on them.  Luckily, as I'm the "local drunk", this wasn't too much of a bad situation.  Overall, the audience reacted very well to this piece.  They were laughing a lot at many different things I didn't expect to get such a large reaction out of.  I'm really happy with how everyone did and the energy we kept up throughout.  I'm really proud of us for creating something so fun and amazing.

06.03.2020 - FEST - Mrs Williams

WARM UP

We started by having a little group warm up with the drama group from the year above.  We did some body and voice warm ups.  For the body warm ups we did some stretching.  For the voice warm ups, we did the sing sirens and uh-oh's.

SFX AND LFX CUES

We then started sorting out the lighting and sound cues.  First we had to sort out the script as although we knew what was going on, the script didn't have precisely what we were doing.  If the sound and lighting technicians saw the script, they would be quite confused over what cue goes where.  Once that was sorted out, Louis and I went to go find the music we were using to put on a USB stick.  The music we were previously using was on Spotify so we needed to find versions to download.  We were very lucky in finding all of the songs quite quickly.  We did have to make some alterations with the timings of the audio but it all went smoothly.

VENUE

We then went to the Mierscher Kulturhaus which was the venue we were going to perform at.  We got a little tour of the venue including the backstage and the stage.

SOUND AND TECHNICAL REHEARSAL

We spent an hour doing a sound and tech rehearsal.  This was very helpful to see the size of the stage considering it is a lot bigger than what we've been used to.  There was one issue that arose which was that the lights were bit more forward than we were expecting.  This meant that the staging blocks had to be further forward than we were used to leaving us not a lot of space in the front.  We all acted very professional during this sound and technical rehearsal and we overcame problems together as a group.  Another big type of difference is the fact that we had to project our voices throughout the room.  There are many more seats and the venue is a lot larger so we need to make sure everyone will be able to hear clearly.  We were told that we need to watch out for the floor mics as they are very expensive and we will break them if we stand on them.  We also taped down where our set is going to be in the performance.  We eventually chose a song to play during the bows which was Sweet Caroline as it is very wholesome and will make the audience feel happy hopefully.

REHEARSAL

We then spent some time fixing the middle scenes when Hugo enters as the energy seems to drop.  The beginning and end have high energy but then middle just needs a little boost.  Once that was fixed we decided to do a speed run-through for a bit of fun and to make sure we all knew the lines and our cues. 

PERFORMANCES

Amelie, Silvana and I stayed after this to watch some of the performances in the festival.  The first one we watched was not my favourite, to be honest.  Some of the actors were very quiet which was probably due to nerves and opening the entire festival which reminded us we need to really be louder than we think.  The second show was more to my taste and everyone seemed to be quite excited especially the main character played by a girl named Marta.

05.03.2020 - FEST - Mr Lemon

DRESS REHEARSAL 

We did a dress rehearsal in front of a few members of staff and students.  I'm very happy with how this turned out and people seemed to enjoy it.  I hadn't eaten anything all day but I had 2 coffees so my body was shaking a lot.  I'm glad this happened in the dress rehearsal and now I know that I'll eat something before hand.

REHEARSAL

We then did some touching up on some scenes which Mr Lemon's help.  He gave us some raw audience feedback as he hadn't watched the show yet.  Some things we need to work on before our final performance on Saturday are:

• Mirrored Chair Duet 
• This is a little bit out of time so we need to make sure we fix our synchronicity
• Hugo and Amelie train scene
• They needed to look more like family and less awkward
• Louis, Tristan and James fight scene
• They needed greater reactions and slow down some parts to build up tension and make James's character more dominant and controlling
• Enhancing Seth's character

RUN THROUGH

We then did a full run through to see if we could apply these new changes to the performance.  I wasn't in the right mindset and I was muddling everything up.  I think I lost a bit of faith so I needed to just get my head back in the game and think properly.  Overall I think we did quite well.

05.02.20 - FEST - Mrs Williams

WARM UP

We did a massive warm up with the another year group.  We started off by doing the game samurai which is about concentration.  The class splits into two groups and there is a leader for each group.  The leader then does a movement which the other team has to reply with another movement that correlates.  If the leader punches, the other team must cross their arms.  If the leader kicks, the other team must jump.  If the leader claps, the other team has to spin.  If the leader moves their arm either way, the other team must move in the direction of his arm.  If the leader puts his hand up, the other team must squat.  We then did another warm up which was to move around the space until the teacher said something and then we did what they said.  When the teacher said to clear the space, we had to run to the closest wall.  If they said opposite, we would have to sprint to the other wall.  If they said shell, we had to curl into a ball on the floor.  If they said sprawl, we had to have 3 points of contact on the floor.  If they said neutral, we had to stand in a neutral position and if they said favourite we had to point to a specific point in the room.  Then the teacher played Bohemian Rhapsody and we had to sing throughout the activities.  It warmed us all up and motivated us.

PLOT POINTS

Louis gave us some more plot points which were very useful and gave us a great place to start from when creating the other story lines.  He created a story for Silvana, Seth, Hugo and my characters.  Some of the points he thought of were that Hugo and I are in a relationship but Hugo spends all of our rent money on clothes etc. and then we get evicted so he tries to get us to live with his brother but my character and his brother don't get along at all so I say that I don't want to live with him.  I then go and live with my sister and then when we're more stable I want to get another apartment with Hugo but he's more interested in the rich life with his brother.  We then break up and then I realise how great life is being single and then Hugo wants me back.  We then both realise that we're better off without each other.

IMPROVISATION

We tried to do an improvisation of the bar scene like our Party Quirks exercise in the improvisation unit.  This was to show us going in a bar and meeting some of the people.  We each had objectives for our characters.  My objective was to somehow portray that I had slept with the barman who was Silvana's ex.  I found it quite difficult to show it without straight up saying it.  We then decided to dissect this scene into two different ones as there were too many conversations going on at once.  One of the scenes was focused on my character and her sister Silvana and the bartender.  Silvana and I already knew our objective but James didn't so we tried to show him through the scene.  I started off quite slow but then figured out ways to portray it in a comedic way.  The second scene was Tristan, Louis and Amelie.  Tristan's objective was to get in between Louis and Amelie.  Yet again it was quite slow to begin with but then they came up with some great ideas.  We then improvised some more scenes related to Louis' ideas about Jane and David.  We improvised the scene between Jane and David (played by Louis today because Hugo wasn't here) about when he tells her that they're getting evicted.  After a couple of tries with different ideas, this turned out quite well.  We then did the scene between Jane and Marie which went well so we decided it would be best to script it, and then the final discussion between David and Jeffery.  We thought that it would be best to keep these scenes quite short as there is no need to waste time just to get an easy message across.

SCRIPT

Jane and Marie discussion

*Jane and Marie sitting down*
Jane - Ugh! David!
Marie - What's he done this time?
Jane - Blown all our money.
Marie - *Gasps* On what?
Jane - Clothes and shoes.
Marie - He's so stupid.
Jane - But guess what's even better?
Marie - What?
Jane - He couldn't pay our rent and now we're evicted.
Marie - I told you he was bad news.  Why do you never listen to me?  Didn't I tell you?  Huh?  I'm always right and you never listen.
*Silence*
Marie - So where are you planning on living then?
Jane - Yours?

WARM UP

For our afternoon warm up, we did something quite similar to this morning with the teacher giving us instructions but this time, when "favourite" was called, we had to point at James and he had to face the audience in neutral.  Then pointing just went to looking at him.  We did this with a few other people as well to see which looked most powerful.  I think that it looked most powerful with James.  We also did a game where we all held hands and one person stood in the middle of this circle and then one person on the outside had to try touch the person on the inside but the people holding hands had to try protect that person.

FREEZE FRAMES

We then did some freeze frames.  The first one was of the bar scene which everyone was involved in.  The other freeze frames didn't involve everyone so the other people just pointed at the scene.  Then we made another set of freeze frames for the second plot line in which the first freeze frame was the same.  We then tried to come up with a third plot line / freeze frames for the barman.

RUN THROUGH

We then did a run through which was difficult for my character as Hugo wasn't here so I did the movements at the start by myself.  The rest of it went well and it was helpful to see where we were at.

IMPROVISATION

We did some improvisation for the scenes involving Frederick, Charles, Meredith and Harry.  The rest of us did some script writing and compiled it all in one word document.

17.12.19 - Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

REHEARSALS
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WARM UP
For the warm up we did the same Sally song as yesterday and two other songs.  For the Sally song, we did lunges for the first part of the song and squats for the second half.  My legs were already aching from all of the squats we did the day before so I really struggled.  Mr Lemon told the cast that your mind quits before your body, so I really wanted to keep going to prove to myself that I could do it even when my mind quit.  By the end of the song, I ended up crying because I was in so much pain, but I felt stronger and happier afterwards.
We did Love The Way You Lie by Rihanna and Eminem:
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Every time Rihanna sang, we held a crunch position and every time Eminem rapped, we did sit ups.  This was a lot easier than the Sally song we did in my opinion as I have stronger ab muscles than leg muscles.
We also did Thunderstruck by ACDC:
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In this song, every time the word "thunder" was said even in the word "thunderstruck", we had to do a burpee.  By this time we were all absolutely worn out so we struggled to carry on.

REHEARSAL
For the rehearsal, we had a bit of a tough time, especially Tristan, the narrator, to adapt to the orchestra as this was our first rehearsal with them.  One of the musicians wasn't able to make the rehearsal which was even more difficult and stressful.  Some of the music was faster and some was slower than the recording that we had previously been rehearsing to.  For example, my music when Tristan says, "In a twinkling, the cat climbed up the tree" was significantly faster than the recording.  Despite all of this, we still managed to make things work.  Our first run through was even worse than the day before, so all of us got down hearted for a bit but then we pulled ourselves together and did a much better second rehearsal.

11.12.19 - Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

SHORT CLIP OF REHEARSAL
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REHEARSAL DISCUSSION
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This rehearsal was a very tricky one.  The cast's morale was down as we were expecting the two main characters to be there (as those parts are the ones we need to work on the most).  There was a conflict between the theatre company but things were resolved that night.  We decided to spend our time on the parts where we have interactions with the characters who were available for rehearsal (which ended up being 5 of us).  The part we worked on the most was my interaction with Amelie after the duck dies.

10.12.19 - Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

DISCUSSION IN REHEARSAL
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REHEARSAL
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We believe that the beginning and end is quite smooth so we decided to work on the fighting scenes with the wolf.  Our lack of characters made it quite difficult to rehearse the parts we wanted to.  Georgia, as the duck, is in the first half and Hugo, the wolf is in the second half, so without either of them it was very difficult to find things to be able to rehearse.  Our space was also quite inconvenient as it is a lot smaller than the auditorium where we will be performing.  We also wanted to focus on linking all of the scenes as we've worked on each scene separately.  We also need to work on the procession with the amount of space provided in the auditorium.
We decided to rehearse in costume as we needed to get used to the tutus and leotards etc. We did a full run through at the beginning to see what needed the most work on.  Louis and Amelie spent a bit of time cleaning up their interaction with each other.  Silvana and Amelie helped Georgia with her entrance. We then spent a bit of time on Silvana and Seth's hunter's scene.  Then we helped Louis and Amelie with their interaction with the hunters.  I liked the idea of having Louis help Amelie down off the tree so we tried it a few times and decided to keep it.  We made the overall interaction with the hunters a bit more choreographed and into a routine.  At the end, we spent some time choreographing my movements for when I climb up the tree.  This is so much better now than how it was before.
I'm very happy with the way this rehearsal went.  The entire cast was dedicated and motivated and it really shows as to how much work we got done.  We were all sharing ideas and helping each other succeed.

09.12.19 - Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

REHEARSAL
In this rehearsal, we covered the movements from the duck coming out of the pond and then getting eaten by the wolf up until the procession.  There was a bit of confusion as to why the duck was getting out of the pond in the first place, but now Georgia understands her character's motif and it's smoother.  She thought that she was getting out of the pond because she was scared of the wolf, but now her objective is to instinctively fight the wolf, then realises how scary he is and runs away.  I think we need to fix the section after the duck gets eaten as the wolf isn't doing much and it's a bit boring, especially for a young audience.  I think the rehearsal, despite the little working space we had, went quite well as the cast was more lively and energetic today.

Wolf chasing duck

Dealing with Clair

PLOT/THEMES

• Clair, a real estate agent, is helping the couple, Mike and Liz, sell their house.  They ask Clair to accept the first offer.  A perfectly good offer is made, however, then a potential buyer, James, enters the scene and offers a higher bid.  All ethical notions go out of the window and Clair is stuck in the middle of the couple's double dealings and receives too much male attention from both the buyer and seller.

STRUCTURE

• Non-linear - The story wasn't in chronological order from what I saw.  It was quite hard to tell as there appeared to be 2 story-lines, however some points seemed to be as if these 2 story-lines were happening at the same time, like when the Italian girl and the investigator wire up the house to hear all conversations going on in the house.  At the end there was a jump in time from when Clair appears to be dying on the floor to when Mike and Liz get another estate agent to help them sell the house.
• 2 narrative story-lines - What occurs within Mike and Liz's house and the investigator.
• Dramatic irony (audience knows outcome but characters don't) - There are a few lines during Clair's phone call that signify something will happen and then this is anchored by the unwanted male attention from the buyer and seller of the house.  There is also a very poignant part when Liz says to her husband that he would "rape" Clair.  Even though the husband isn't the one to kidnap her or rape her or whatever happens at the end, it still foreshadows events.

SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS

• Clair's phone call - seems to be studied by investigator and foreshadows events later on - also sets mood and tone for play as eerie and ominous.
• The Italian girl's Italy call - find out she's involved in the investigation.
• Mike and James giving Clair too much attention - foreshadows events later on in play.
• James and Clair playing snap - clearly unprofessional and they both know it - finally seems like a tipping point which it is.
• James on the phone - see Clair on the floor barely moving - find out what happened to her.

ACTING / MOVEMENT

• The set was a model village with a room behind it and a walkway on top of the room.
• The actors would use the model village space as if it was a room in a house and interact with the model houses as if they were seats, rooms and props.
• The first scene, containing Clair's phone call had interesting movement as it portrayed a passing of time.
• The proxemics of the character revealed a lot without having to explicitly say - for example, James and Mike would get very close to Clair indicating their interest in her.

TECHNICAL DESIGN

• As I said before, they had a model village which they used as if it was furniture and seats etc in a house.  
• The stairs to the bridge were used as part of the house and underneath that was the investigators room.
• There were also model trains behind the wall upstage to signify Clair's house by the railway. 
• Most of the time there was quite a plain white lighting, however, right before the very end, all the lights went off and there were people in masks with torches on stage and walking around in the audience to make it more interactive. 
• Liz's shoes were set in a parking lot of the model village as if they were parked there but she changed her footwear when getting changed for James to come over.  Clair wore 3 outfits, a towel, blazer and skirt and blazer with trousers.  The investigator wore a plumber's outfit as a disguise to get into the house.

12.11.19 - Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

REHEARSAL
In this rehearsal, we re-blocked the procession so that it makes more sense with the music and the storyline.
Before, our procession was boring and lifeless but we changed it because that wouldn't be appropriate for our target audience as they want it to be interactive and exciting.
We now have Peter, the wolf and the huntsmen interacting with the audience and walking around whilst the cat and grandfather perform their segment.
Then the cat and grandad come off stage and meet Peter, the wolf and the huntsmen and interact with the children whilst the bird performs.
Then we all go off stage and come back on for the curtain call.
This has been improved greatly and now the cast is more confident in the piece.

Actors interacting with the audience

Bullying Piece full run through - Mrs Williams

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14.10.19 Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

In this rehearsal, we figured out that having a thrust stage would be too difficult to perform in.  I believe if there wasn't a tree we had to "climb", a thrust stage would be possible.  We are now going to perform on the stage of the auditorium rather than the floor with the chairs pushed back.  We carried on choreographing this piece but it was quite difficult to think about the rearrangement of the stage and where the pond, tree and fence will be.  I changed my movements to make it more exaggerated which I think a younger audience will enjoy.  I also payed more attention to my music and now have choreography which works better with it.

A thrust stage

Our auditorium

Children's Theatre - Mrs Williams

Unicorn Theatre

UNICORN THEATRE
Specialises in children's theatre
Shows for ages 4-7:

Anansi the spider - 55 mins
This is an immersive and highly engaging experience. Instead of conventional seating, children and adults will sit together on the floor in the world of Anansi. We will have some seating for people who need it and will be able to accommodate you on the day.
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The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse - 50 mins

One day Mouse is gobbled up by a wolf. ‘Oh woe’ says Mouse, who fears this must be the end. But then we discover Duck, who was, until Mouse arrived, taking a nap.  As it turns out, it’s pretty nice living inside the belly of the beast with a new friend. There’s delicious food, dancing and – better still – no more fear of being eaten!  Meanwhile, outside in the forest, things aren’t quite as rosy for Wolf who is being stalked by a hunter. Realising their fates are intertwined, Duck and Mouse hatch a winning plan…  Join us this Christmas for the stage adaptation of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s brilliantly subversive picture book which finds joy and friendship in the darkest and most unusual of places.

Wild - 50 mins

Wild’s home is the forest. Bears teach her how to eat, birds help her to speak, and foxes show her how to play. She is irrepressibly wild.  Then one day, some new animals arrive. They look oddly like her – and they want to take Wild away. But what if she was happy where she was?  Adapted from the glorious picture book by artist Emily Hughes, Wild is brought to life by inventive young company How It Ended (The Little Gardener, UK tour). This energetic story, told with atmospheric sound, movement and puppetry, celebrates the free spirit in all of us.

Little Angel Theatre

LITTLE ANGEL THEATRE
Specialises in puppets
Shows for ages 4-7:

The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-Cat - 45 mins

When their beautiful golden ring is stolen, the Owl and the Pussy-cat must travel far from the safety of the Bong-tree glade as their search for the thief leads them across the sea, to the Chankly Bore and beyond.

Find out what these two beloved characters did next and join them on a journey through a nonsensical land full of adventure.

Julia Donaldson and Charlotte Voake’s sequel to Edward Lear’s classic poem is brought to life on stage for the first time with stunning puppetry, enchanting rhyme and original music.

The Pixie and the Pudding - 50 mins

It’s Christmas Eve on the farm, and the chickens, pigs and cows are fast asleep. Inside the farmhouse, the fire is roaring and a delicious, steaming pudding is left out on the windowsill…

When Charlie and her dad move to the farm from the city, everything seems to go wrong. Dolly the cow’s in a grump, there’s not an egg to be found, and even the cockerel has stopped crowing! If only they’d paid attention to the mysterious note left on their windowsill about a curious pixie and the pudding she likes to eat on Christmas Eve…

This brand new musical brings a tale from Scandinavian folklore to life with puppetry, original music and a sprinkling of pixie magic.

Me... - 40 mins

The world is a very big place, especially for a tiny baby penguin who is just finding her feet. The shimmering stars and glistening snow spin around our little hero, while the mountains tower high and the wind rushes to and fro. And although baby penguin may be small, her family know she’s the biggest thing of all.

This early years favourite is a lovely and touching story about a parent and their love for their child by much loved children’s author Emma Dodd.

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Polka Theatre

POLKA THEATRE
First theatre created specifically for children
Shows for ages 4-7:

The Paper Dolls -

When a little girl makes a string of paper dolls, she takes them by the hand on a fantastical adventure. Whirling through the home and garden they fly through the air, until they are confronted with some very sharp scissors…

Adapted from the acclaimed picture book created by former Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson and award-winning illustrator by Rebecca Cobb, The Paper Dolls comes to life with stunning puppetry and original music in Polka Theatre’s much-loved production.

07.10.19 Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

In this rehearsal we were beginning to choreograph the show.  We had a few difficulties such as finding ways to make it all visible to the audience as we are using a thrust stage.  We each came up with a set movement for our characters.  As the cat, mine was a stealthy walk in time with the music.  I believe I can improve on this movement to make it more interesting and entertaining for a younger audience.

Peter and the Wolf - Ms Trono

WOODWIND QUINTET

• Flute
• Obo - double reed
• Clarinet - single reed
• Horn 
• Bassoon - double reed

SWOT

S-strengths

W-weaknesses

O-opportunities

T-threats

S

• Talented actors
• Artists to create costumes and set
• Similar amount of boys to girls
• Small group
• Close friends

W

• movements
• budget
• little time with musicians
• needing to make set and costume
• not many dancers
• time constraint

O

• primary school to help inspire
• international tour
• auditorium as performance space
• Luxembourg quintet professionals 
• big audience

T

• people coming because of Christmas holidays
• Christmas shows going on
• people living in different countries
• overtaken by bigger companies

CHARACTERS

• narrator
• hunters
• wolf
• Peter
• grandfather
• cat
• duck
• bird

Pool (no water) by Mark Ravenhill - Mrs Williams

SCRIPT DETAILS

From what we read, I didn't understand much of the context, being that there is group of so-called 'friends' who go to one of their friends (Sallys) pool.  Sally gets in an accident which results in her getting in a coma.  There are no specific characters so this text is very abstract and could be performed in a vast variety of ways.

WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE TEXT

Our group took the first half of the first page and divided the lines between us to create characters that would make sense.  We had 5 characters, 1 of which we gave lines to to make them appear to be slightly crazy and also very attracted to money.  The character I played took more of a malicious role where they thought that Sally would be better dead so that they could make their fortune off of her. The other 3 characters were more sympathetic and were trying to make the other two understand why killing her would be an awful thing.

WHY DID YOU MAKE THOSE CHOICES

The lines, supported by body language, facial expression and tone of voice, made more sense by splitting the lines in this way in our opinion.  It was very challenging to do so but we persevered.

WHAT WAS THE IMPACT

We made the characters intentions clear to the audience but also still left that mystery and suspense, leaving them guessing what happens next yet giving them just enough context for that half of a page.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT WITH THIS PIECE OF WORK

Hot seating each character would be a good way to portray these roles more effectively.  I would like to expand it a bit more and experiment with choral speaking, setting and proxemics.

SETTING

We set our piece in and by and empty pool with our audience in the round.

The setting we agreed on for our piece